Off-leash dog park in Rancho Palos Verdes to open soon

Work is under way to turn a half-acre plot of land near Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall into a temporary off-leash dog park.

The parcel - located behind the tennis courts in Point Vicente Park/Civic Center at 30940 Hawthorne Blvd. - is set to open later this month or early November.

With its small size and only temporary status, it falls short of what dog park supporters have spent years lobbying for on The Hill.

But for now, it'll do.

"We know it's on the lower end of the size for a dog park," said Carolynn Petru, deputy city manager. "But this was one area where it wasn't going to interfere with any other use."

The land also is level, providing easy access, and includes several trees for shade, Petru said.

"I think it's going to be pretty nice," she said.

Construction is ongoing, with fences going up this week and water stations and seating areas also being installed. Wood chips will be used as ground cover and the park will include separate spaces for large and small dogs, along with separate double-gate entrances for each side.

There's no firm opening date yet, but city officials said the park probably will have a low-key or "soft" opening - without a lot of fanfare - once the property is ready within the next few weeks.

Establishing an off-leash dog park on the Palos Verdes Peninsula has been a longtime goal for many of the area's dog owners.

Bruce and Maureen Megowan launched the effort several years ago, collecting hundreds of signatures in support of the idea.

Their proposed location - the former Palos Verdes Landfill in Rolling Hills Estates - remains a widely agreed-upon site for what would be a regional dog park offering several acres to serve all of the cities on the Peninsula.

But the county, which oversees the property, said a proposal for a dog park won't be considered until its first such facility - a 1.5-acre parcel in La Crescenta that finally opened this month after numerous delays - has been up and running for a full year.

"We're at least a year away from that even being given any consideration," Bruce Megowan said.

While Megowan is doubtful that the temporary park - especially considering its smaller-than-standard dog park size - will meet the needs of the Peninsula's dog-owning community, he said it does provide a sanctioned off-leash facility for now.

"It'll be at least a place where people can legally run their dogs," he said. "Our hopes still will be resting on the county and the former Palos Verdes Landfill site. It's a waiting game."

A 2005 dog park task force in Sacramento determined that dog parks should be no smaller than 1 acre when developed in small neighborhood park settings.

Katie Howe of the Rancho Palos Verdes Recreation and Parks Department said the city also is still looking to the larger county property as the best permanent dog park location for The Hill in the future.

"That would be the city's solution," she said. "This (temporary park) was meant to alleviate a need that the community has voiced for an off-leash dog park."

Bruce Megowan expressed disappointment that a larger, permanent park hadn't yet opened, however, while waiting for the possible county site could be still years off.

A proposed dog park was included in talks about revamping both Lower Hesse and Grandview parks in Rancho Palos Verdes. But the dog park components were eventually tossed out, he said, after new council members were elected and revisions were made to reflect more passive park uses advocated by residents surrounding the open spaces.

"You work very hard for four years, you develop support, you demonstrate the need, you get the (Rancho Palos Verdes City) Council on board," he said, adding that other locations were then never explored. "Then a new council comes in and you're at square one again."

"We had decided we wanted to wait for the regional park," when the idea of providing a temporary spot for dog owners came up, Petru said. An overflow parking area was dismissed as unworkable before the current site behind the tennis courts was selected, she said.

The two closest dog parks are a 3-acre parcel in Redondo Beach that opened in 1992 and a small facility (at about three-quarters of an acre) in San Pedro that also has only a "temporary" status.

The new trial Rancho Palos Verdes dog park will be open one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset, seven days a week.

It will be unstaffed, with rules and regulations posted. Dog owners are personally responsible for any problems, injuries or damages caused by their pets.